Ice-freezing tank



May 29, 1928. 1,671,945

H. P. FELL ICE FREEZING TANK Filed July 29, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 nu ki n zm l MZM; s; 4 IE1 B W L6,

N ATTORNEYS May 29, 1928.

1,671,945 P. F ELL ICE FREEZ ING TANK Filed July 29, 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 n HM lllHllil HI 1H lnrl i "lull Ill! l|| llll llVllIl murmur W ATTORNEYS Patented .May 29, 1928.

UNITED. STATES HUGH r. FELL, or new YORK, N.- Y.

ICE-FREEZING TANK.

Application filed July 29, 1926. Serial No. 125,766.

' The present invention is concerned with the provision of a freezing tank'which may have awide range of utility in the refrigeration art and which finds its preferred embodimentin a tank for freezing ice.

Until a fairly recent date the common practice in ice freezing tanks was to use separate ice cans arranged in rows with the long refrigerating coils running lengthwlse of the tank between the rows of cans. This arrangement had three outstanding disadvantages. In the first place the refrigerating coils were frequently broken by striking the ice cans against them as they were lowered into place.

necessary to drain olf all of the brine in the tank when repairing a leaky coil. In the third place the long horizontal ammonia coils could not be keptflooded due to the Q fact that the mixture ofgasified and liquid ammonia needed to travel a long distance before the gas could separate out. This last disadvantage, of course, resulted in ineflicient refrigeration. 7

Recently t is practice has been somewhat modified and the use of batteries or groups of ice cans has become general. The longitudinal rows of ammonia coils between the cans have been eliminated and the coils are put in a separate compartment either under the cans or beside them. In this manner'the danger of breaking the ammonia coils has been lessened, but the freezing tanks are still highly ineflicient due to the fact that the 5 .coils are unduly long and due to, the fact that headers showing perforated bafile plates.

the difficulty of repairing a coil has been increased rather than lessened by placing the coils in compartments.

In accordance with the present invention 40 I have provided a freezing tank which eliminates all of the above noted disadvantages. Short lengths of coils connected to one or more headers are utilized, these coils preferably extending transversely of an elongated compartment in the tank. The connection of the coils with the header or headers is such that a damaged coil may be readily uncoupled and removed withoutdraining any brine from the tank. The removal of the ice cans will lower the level of the brine sufiiciently to provide access to the coil couplings. The relatively short length coils also provide for much more rapid and eflicient refrigeration since the partially In the second place it was.

gasified refrigerant is not trapped in a long run of the cm]. Any coil of the series may be out out or removed for repairs without materially affecting the efficiency "of the system.

Objects of the invention are to provide a tank of the general character outlined above whichwill be of simple, practical construction, well suited to the requirements of economical manufacture, and well suited for use in the conversion of an old type tank into a tank embodying the invention. With the above noted and other objects in view the invention consists in certain-novel features of construction and combinations and arrangements of parts as will be morefully hereinafter described and set forth in the claims. I

The invention may be more fully understood by reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein, Fig. 1 is a broken top plan view of my improved ice freezing tank, part of the coil compartment cover being broken away for the sake of clearness;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view on the line 22 of Fig.1; 1

Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional detail on' the line-33v of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary planview of one end of the coil compartment with the cover removed; v i

Fig. 5 is a sectional detail through the bottom of the accumulator; andj Fig. 6 is a sectional detail of one of the In the drawings I have used the reference character 10 to designate a brine tankdivided by a pair of parallel longitudinally extending vertical partitions 11 into a central coil compartment 12 which runs substantially the full length of the tank and which communicates at its ends with the ice can compartments 13 at each side of the tank. Batteries of icecans 14 are shown in the ice can com artments. Agitators may 'be provided in 0th ends of the coil compartment 12 for maintaining a continuous brine circulation through the coil compartment. For purpose of illustration, however, I have shown only one agitator 14 mounted near 1 the end of compartment 12 adjacent the ammonia accumulator 15.

The means for withdrawingthe vapors instead of using from the headers, condensing it and returning it to the accumulator, forms no part of the present invention, and in order to simplify the drawings I have shown no mechanism for accomplishing this purpose.

A pair of headers 16 and 17 each communicate with the accumulator 15 at one end and are connected together at their opposite ends by a coupling 18. These headers are preferably spaced apart "the full width of the chamber 12 and to each header there are connected a series of short transversely disposed refrigerating coils designated generally by the reference numeral 19. As best seen in Fig. 3 each of the coils 19 includes a vertical leg 20 connected by a coupling 21to the bottom of one of the headers 16, 17. Liquid ammonia flows from the header down the vertical leg 20, then upwardly through a tortuous course defined by a connected series of horizontal pipes 22, the return to the header being through a pipe 23 communicating with the top of the header and connected thereto by a coupling 24. If desired the headers may be horizontally divided by apertured plates 25 separating the liquid ammonia in headers from the ammonia gas in the top.

It will be noted in Fig. 3 that the horizontal pipes 22 of one coil 19 are staggered relatively to the horizontal pipes of a laterally adjacent coil so that the pipes themselves constitute bafiles for the brine in its flow through the compartment 12. Obviously any desired number of additional baflles 40 depending from the cover 30 of compartment 12 may be utilized;

As illustrated the coils 19 are connected alternately to opposite headers 16 and 17. It is to be. understood however that only one header might be used insteadof two and that a central coil compartment 12, I might use any desired number of compartments. For example, two. compartments, one ing tank might be utilized. In any event the coil compartments should be relatively elongated and the refrigerating coils would be disposed transversely thereof, and each consist of a relatively small, readily removable unit.

From the foregoing descriptionit will be seen that when any one of the coils 19 is out of order, it may be readily removed and repaired by simply removing cover 30 of the coil compartment and enough of the ice cans to lower the brine level to a point below couthe bottom of the located at each side of the freezpling 21. The couplings 24 and 21 of the particular coil 19 which has been removed can be blocked up and the to function in the absence of the coil. The refrigerating capacity will be only slightly reduced when a coil is removed because of the short length of the pipe coil unit. The pipe coils will be more nearly 100% flooded because of the fact that the coils are short and there will be little gas trapped in. them. The distance which the ammonia travels in a horizontal direction relatively to the head of ammonia is considerably reduced, and the circulation in consequence is more rapid and efiicient giving a rate of heat transfer which will result in the production of a greater tonnage of ice with a smaller total footage of pipe coils;

Obviously various changes and alterations might be made in the general form and arrangement of the parts described without departing from the invention.

I claim:

1. An evaporator for cooling brine tanks or the like including a pair of parallel longitudinally extending refri erant headers,

system continue frigerating coils, the ends of alternate coils communicating with the opposite headers,

and couplings for the coils arranged closely adjacent the headers to facilitate the removal of a single coil. Y i

. 2. An evaporator for cooling brine tanks or the like including a pair of parallel longitudinally extending refri erant headers, relatively short transversely disposed refrigerating coils, the ends of alternate coils communicating with the opposite headers, and couplings for the coils arranged closely adjacent the headers to facilitate the removal of a single coil, said coils extending transversely of the longitudinal axes of the headers and being disposed in the space between the headers.

3. An evaporator for cooling brine tanks orthe'like including a pair of parallel longitudinally extending refrigerant headers, relatively short transversely disposed refrigerating coils, the ends of alternate coils communicating with the opposite headers,

and couplings for the coils arranged closely cent coils being staggered to serve as baflles for a circulating brine tank to be cooled.

HUGH P. FELL. 

